Repentance ceremony on March 29th, Year of the Dragon

On May 07th, 2024 (March 29th, Year of the Dragon), good men and believing women inside and outside HCMC returned to Hoang Phap pagoda to attend the periodical penitential ceremony.

Before the rite, Junior Thich Tam Luan, Abbot of Bao Quang in Dong Nai pagoda had a dharma to share with Buddhists.

Social networks are currently developing very quickly, and there is negative information and images about Buddhist monks, losing the confidence of Buddhists in particular and the public in general. Looking back at the history of Buddhism, even during the Buddha's time, there were still individuals that their transformation had no completion, or in other words, had not completely eliminated bad habits. Because social networks in ancient times were not yet developed, communication was only on a small scale, and the opposing forces did not have the means to distort and lose the public's faith in Buddhism. Nowadays, Buddhist disciples need to review whether their belief in the Three Jewels is strong, or firm enough or not when receiving certain information that has not been verified. Each person needs to be clear-sighted, verify clearly, have an open view, not rush to judge, and avoid creating bad karma for themselves.

From the story of the conflict between the two monks of lawyer and dharma preacher who resided together with Kosambi in Ghosita Vihara, the Buddha taught lay-people to try to protect the Three Jewels, because whether the Dharma exists, or not depends on Sangha. Thanks to the monks, the Buddha's teachings spread, bringing benefits to many people. In addition to protecting Three Jewels to help monks cultivate, lay Buddhists need to adhere to pure precepts and maintain faith so that the Dharma will always endure.

Complying precepts or causing karma will usually go through 3 processes: the preparation stage for action, the action reaches the desired intention; the caused karma formed consequences. Through these three processes, the third process is the important factor that determines karma.

The Buddha taught there are four ways to enter a dharma-door for lay people: being close to good ones, listening to the Dharma, thinking correctly, practicing the Dharma correctly. To do this, we need to rely on the basic foundation of Three Refuges and Five Precepts.

By his Dharma talk, the monk helps the listeners have the right view and maintain faith in the Three Jewels. He advised the mass to cultivate loving-kindness, practice good dharma, skillfully use their mind to accumulate merit and blessings for themselves to advance further on the cultivation.

After the Dharma talk, the mass entered the penitential ritual as usual.

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